The Intersection of Innovation and Contemporary Living

Daily Archives: March 11, 2006

This (link via Moonwatcher) is very cool and very sensible, too bad it's just a prototype. The obvious reason why more enterprise software applications have not embraced RSS is that the average enterprise software user probably doesn't use RSS, however, since when is it acceptable to sit back and wait for customers to discover technology before vendors develop features to take advantage of it? Lead the market, not follow.

Just off the top of my head I can think of a great array of use scenarios where RSS could significantly improve an application:

event triggers

benefits information in HR

inventory availability/safety levels

advance ship notifications

receipt confirmations

master data update notifications

reporting (all kinds)

product/customer support notifications

lead management (SFA)

And that list is just 45 seconds of brainstorming, imagine what people who really know the products could come up with. I really think there is an opportunity for 3rd party ISV's to come in and establish RSS infrastructures and application integration today, irrespective of anything that the major app vendors will provide. If I were leading one of those companies (e.g. Simplefeed) I would look at opportunities to leverage cross functional apps using RSS as a semantic data integration tool, even if only through a reporting tool. I would also looking at opportunities to leverage RSS in supply chain applications.

Like this:

I bought a new MacBook Pro the other day and being the geek that I am I have completely immersed myself in Mac stuff and almost have it fully personalized. Here's a dashboard widget that I found that is not only totally lacking in practical applications but it's also one of the most clever widgets I have yet to find. The Carpenters Level Dashboard Widget makes use of the sudden motion sensor built into the laptop to drive a graphical carpenters level.

On a serious note, the Apple Dashboard function is growing on me. Once you get past the trivial weather and clock widgets that is. I have a widget for posting to my blog and monitoring my gmail inbox, among others. In many ways this is the realization of the AJAX desktop concept, and Yahoo!'s Konfabulator but with a nice and seamless integration with your desktop.